Car hand-strap



(No Model.)

G. W. CLARK.

GAR STRAP.

WiZness es,

GEORGE W'. CLARK, OF BAYONNE, NEW

JERSEY.

CAR HAND-STRAP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 580,571, dated April 13, 1897.

Application filed July 15, 1896. Serial No. 599,222. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. CLARK, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Bayonne, Bergen county, State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Car Hand-Straps, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a supporting device or hand-strap designed to take the place of the leather loop now generally employed in street and elevated railroad cars and other vehicles as a handhold for passengers who are standing within the car or desire such assistance in passing along the aisle of the vehicle.

The object of the present invention, among other things, is to provide a more suitable hand grasping-piece than the old leather loop gives, to obviate the use of leather or other porous material for the grasping portion,

which, owing to its porosity, acts as a vehicle for holding and spreading disease, and to substitute therefor a hard, polished, or glassy surface incapable of holding disease-germs and readily kept absolutely clean.

As a better understanding of the invention will be had from a detailed description of a practical embodiment thereof, such description will now be given, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of the improvement with the handle or grasping-piece in section; and Fig. 2 is an end view thereof, the top loop and supporting-rod being in section.

As shown in said drawings, the improved hand-strap A consists of a handle or grasping-piece a, made of some hard material capable of taking a hard polished surface, such, for instance, as metal, glass, or hard closegrained wood or the like. This handle is supported, preferably, so as to be free to rotate in the loop of a cord, band, or flexible support I), which in turn is supported by a U-shaped band 0, resting loosely on the usual car-rail d.

The flexible support I) is in form of an endless cord or band, the two ends thereof being brought together and firmly united by a staple c, which when the hand-strap is ready for use lies in the longitudinal opening through the handle, so as to conceal the joint and at the same time prevent the ends of the staple from bending outwardly suflicient to prevent V the breaking of the joint when undue downward strain is applied to the handle and cord or band. The endless form of the support 6 also provides an upper loop f of small extent formed by bringing the contiguous portions of the support close together and united in such position by a binding g.

The upper loop f of the support is directly carried by a short sleeve 45, inserted between the two parallel members of the band 0 and held in place by a screw j,which passes through said sleeve, through openings in the two melnbers of said band, and through the washers k, and is held securelyin place bya nutm. The sleeve, with its screw j, forms a pivotal joint between the endless support I) and the band 0, allowing the support to oscillate with respect to the band 0, and the hanging of the band over the car-rod dpermits the band-support I) and handle to swing laterally with re spect to said rod.

What I claim is- The herein-described hand-strap, consisting of a U-shaped band for the car-rod, a depending flexible support pivotally carried by said band, an independent graspingpiece supported by the support, and an intermediate vertical binding securing together the two parallel portions of the flexible support.

In presence of two witnesses I have hereunto signed my name.

GEORGE W. CLARK.

Witnesses:

GEO. H. GRAHAM, SAML. V. SPEYER, 

